Snapshot of an April Morning
by istanzia
Summary: Written last year. There are days even Mazoku don't think it's worth getting up for, but all it takes is the right person to make it all better. XL interaction


Snapshot of an April Morning

by JruLai

Xellos woke up and opened his eyes. Not that he needed to sleep but he found it that in the presence of company, one must try to blend in as much as they could even if he was stronger, meaner and much more powerful than said company. It helped to put them at ease. It was like saying, "Look! I'm one of you! Lower your guard so that one day I may take advantage of it." Something like that.

So Xellos opened his eyes, turned his head over and stared at the calendar next to his head. Some cheerful idiot in the inn had thought it convenient if the calendar was close to the bed so that whoever woke up would know what day it was that day. It was definitely NOT appreciated. He sat up and looked at the date. And yes... unfortunately, it was a Friday.

He hated Fridays. Hated them with an intense passion. They were the bane of all Mazoku, after all. No one dreaded Friday; it was the most anticipated day of the week. Everyone said, "Thank all that's holy that it's Friday!" And while he knew he could turn that into pain and despair, it was just an intoxicating aura that would greet him first thing in the morning and would result in one grouchy Mazoku. Fridays, he concluded, should be erased from the face of the earth. Except for the 13th. Everyone loved the 13th, after all. But today wasn't the 13th... it was the 1st. Maybe he should just make himself scarce this day.

"April 1st," he said to himself. "...should burn in the Phibrizzo's seventh level of hell."

"Ah, Lina... just the person I was looking for," he said as he walked up to the breakfast table. Lina loved to sleep but she loved a good meal even better. She was currently on a quest that entailed riches and magical tomes but that was all he knew about it. Lina wasn't the most responsive while voraciously eating dinner, he had realized last night when meeting up with her.

"Morning, Xellos," she said as she took a pause from her eating, greeted him and went back to her eating. Lina loved a good meal and the fact that this certain inn only served breakfast between 7 and 9 in the morning had caused the sorceress to wake up earlier than usual so that she could benefit as much as possible from the 'all you can eat breakfast buffet' offered by the inn. He could feel the intoxicating aura of jest and jokes fermenting in the air from the few people around them as he watched Lina eat her breakfast. At least it wasn't coming from Lina, but that may be due in part to the fact that she was concentrated solely on her food.

"Mind if I join you?" asked Xellos as he pulled up a chair and signaled for the waitress to come. "Tea, please." The waitress nodded and she came back with a pot of tea and a teacup.

"Go ahead," said Lina belatedly. She grabbed another slice of bread and took another sip of her drink.

Xellos absentmindedly fixed his tea as he thought about his many duties that day. He poured himself a cup of tea and reached for the sugar.

"Careful... that's salt," said Lina absentmindedly as she carefully sniffed the jar of jelly.

"Aah..." said Xellos. He turned and looked at the waitress who tried to hide her smile from her face. "Yes... it is the first, is it not?"

"They tried to trick me earlier..." said Lina as she spread jelly on her bread. "Gave me red gravy sauce instead of jelly... fireballed the cook and since then they've been nice about the food." Bite, chew, swallow, take a huge gulp of her drink.

"Ah." said Xellos in understanding. Beware the wrath of Lina Inverse should she be forced to wake up early to eat and not get the food she wanted. "Thank you."

"Here's the sugar," she said as she sniffed the butter before deciding that yes, it really was butter and not congealed pig fat or something similar. She handed a bowl over to Xellos.

"Thank you," said Xellos and put a bit into his tea. He absentmindedly stirred his drink as he watched Lina eat. It was quite fascinating. Lina was eating as ferociously as always, but her gaze was focused as she examined every plate of food to make sure it was edible. Obviously, the sorceress was used to the human tricks and had learned to be wary of her food on this day.

"I'm surprised you're up so early," he said. He reached for a roll only to have Lina bat his hand away with her fork.

"Mine, get your own. I had to test every roll to make sure it was good." said Lina. Sure enough, he noticed that every roll had been dissected and tasted and it seemed that it was deemed good as some of the bread was half eaten.

"Waitress... some more bread please." he said. She smiled and brought out a basket with warm bread.

He carefully followed Lina's example and examined his bread carefully. Hearing shrieks and a peal of laughter from another table caused him to double his examination. Sure enough...

"Waitress... some bread please... with no fancy sauces in the center..." he said. She grinned again although he could tell that she was annoyed at being found out.

There was some more silence as they ate.

"So why are you up early, Xellos?" asked Lina as she slowed down. She had devoured most of the food already and was eating slowly now.

"I have to run some errands today, so I decided it would be best to go ahead and get them over with before too many people wake up."

"Not a big fan of today, are you?" asked Lina. "Me neither."

"I would have thought you would enjoy this day," said Xellos conversationally. "I hear that humans enjoy playing jokes."

"I don't mind all jokes," said Lina. "Some people are just too stupid with their jokes. And many people don't seem to realize that I actually want real, untampered food, and I have to put up with their insanity. Makes for difficulty in obtaining lunch, you know. And I don't have time for jokes like that. I have things to do, bandits to fry, camps to loot. No time for a breather like playing jokes on people, you know..."

More silence.

"I thought you would enjoy the day, though," said Lina. She nodded the waitress over and asked for more juice. The waitress smiled quickly and brought out a jug. Lina fixed her with a glare and readied a fireball. The girl lost her smile and quickly replaced the jug with another one. "These people... honestly... how is one supposed to get decent food here?" She sniffed the drink and poured a small bit out to test it.

"I enjoy the day OK, I guess," said Xellos. "It's not my favorite." Big understatement. But no need to give Lina too much ammunition against him.

"Don't get me wrong, I enjoy playing jokes on people," said Xellos. "But there is something... boring and dull... about playing a joke on people on the day everyone expects them. You know what I mean."

Lina nodded in understanding.

"I see... it's like robbing the bandits and giving the money to the poor... it is expected and no fun," she said wisely before biting off a piece of her roll.

"Yes, something like that." said Xellos not quite seeing how they were alike but deciding that pointing that out would be detrimental to his health.

There was more companionable silence as the two ate and listened to the mix of laughter and shrieks of outrage.

"Anyway," said Lina as she leaned back on her chair, her feasting done. "I am stuffed. What are you going to do, Xellos?" she asked.

"Nothing much. Lady Zelas has a few errands she wants me to run but not much else. You?"

"There's an ancient ruin 30 minutes away from here by flight," said Lina. She stood up to leave. "It was nice seeing you for a small bit." Xellos nodded towards her.

"Likewise, Lina," he said. "Perhaps we'll meet some other day."

"Perhaps." she said. She grabbed an extra roll.

"Here, have some of mine," said Xellos, seeing that Lina didn't have much bread left. "The bread is actually good when not booby-trapped."

"It is, isn't it?" asked Lina. She happily took the bread and left, giving a small wave as she turned. She exited the room.

"Ah... Lina..." he said to himself.

It was interesting, this relationship they had. In between his missions and her adventures, they managed to have a pretty decent time when he had time to meet up with her. He took a sip of his tea as he contemplated the situation and immediately spit it out. He eyed his tea quizzically and smiled as he caught sight of the 'sugar' pot Lina had thrown to him. Sugar, indeed. He poured himself a new cup of tea. Ah well... at least Lina had taken some of his bread. She'd get a nice surprise when she got hungry, that was for sure.

Maybe he'd track her down... just to see her reaction when she realized what he had given her. Maybe playing a few tricks on his favorite human might actually be more entertaining than mindlessly torturing the waitress and the inn owner for tampering with the food.

Suddenly, April 1st didn't seem that bad after all.

owari

AN: Decided to try something different. Been extremely tired these past few days and decided that something simple and peaceful might calm me down. I haven't written in so long... i hope the characterizations are decent and that my writing is not too rusty. Criticize all you want, I need it. xD Have a good day, guys.

_March 31, 2005_


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